Monday, June 13, 2016

This week June 16th- 19th, the 116th U.S. Open for golf will be held
at the historical Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania. This is one
of the four Major golf tournaments in professional golf, and in many
peoples' minds (including mine) the most prestigious of them all. I
wanted to remember one of my favorite U.S. Opens in 1983, when one of
my favorite golfers Larry Nelson won.

About Oakmont and the U.S. Open

Oakmont has held more Major golf championships than any other golf course in the U.S., including 8 U.S.
Opens and 3 PGA Championships. The course was built in 1903 by
designer Henry Fownes, and is considered one of the most difficult
courses in America, rated #4 in Golf Digest.

Since 1983, there have been 2 Opens
held here, one in 1994 when Ernie Els won, and one in 2007 when Angel
Cabrera won. Before 1983, greats such as Johnny Miller won here in
1973, Jack Nicklaus won in 1962, and Ben Hogan won in 1953.

1983 U.S. Open

Personally, I think the U.S. Open is
the best golf tournament in the world, and is greater than even the
British Open. This is the championship of golf period. The high
rough, fast greens, and long courses are always testing the best
players in the world to their limits.

In 1983 this was no different,
as Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Calvin Peete, and Larry Nelson
fought for the title. Mostly the battle was between Tom Watson and
Larry Nelson, although this was Seve's second best effort in an Open
(4th overall).

Tom had won the Open for the first
time in 1982 at Pebble Beach in the famous tournament where he
chipped in a birdie at the difficult 17th hole to edge out
Jack Nicklaus. It looked as though Tom was going to march right on
through the field to win his second Open in a row, yet there was this
quiet man called Larry Nelson going on a tear at Oakmont.

Larry shot a 6 under (65) on Saturday
to emerge from the field and enter into the final day at Even. Tom
and Seve were in the final group starting Sunday at -1, Calvin Peete
started the day also at Even. The 65 was the hottest round of the
tournament, and Larry kept up the heat on the final day.

Larry had won the PGA Championship in
1981, and went on to win his third and last major in 1987 with another PGA Championship. Tom came closer than anyone to winning multiple U.S. Opens
in the 80s, but only captured the one in 1982.

Larry went on to win the 1983 U.S.
Open by one shot after a weather delay caused the last few holes to
be postponed til Monday. The lighting was threatening the players,
and Tom was the first (as usual) to smartly say he wanted off the course.

The
play resumed on Monday morning, and on the first hole Larry played
(long par 3 16th), Larry made a monstrous putt for birdie
to gain a one stroke advantage. Tom went on to bogey the 17th,
giving Larry a two shot advantage finishing up on the 18th.

Larry went on to three putt and bogey
the 18th, giving Tom one last chance to tie with a birdie.
The tough 18th hole was long par 4, not easy to par much
alone birdie, and Tom's birdie chip missed, grazing the hole and rolling over 30 ft away. Miraculously, he putted his par putt in, but it was
too late and Larry was the winner by one stroke.

1980s Was Best Decade of Golf

I've watched all the U.S. Opens in the
1980s because of the YouTube channel I've shared below. You too can
watch the entire final round of the 1983 U.S. Open from this channel.

Personally, I think the 80s was the greatest decade in golf, because
it was the time right before the metal woods came out. The
competition was better than ever and the clubs still required genuine
skill to strike the ball solid. In my opinion the 80s was the last
time golf wasn't ruined by technology and sponsors. This is why I
enjoy watching 80s golf more than the tournaments today.

Larry Nelson is one of my favorite
players because of his humility, his faith in Jesus Christ, his
bravery to serve in Vietnam, and his talent at the game of golf. He
was about as pure of a natural talent as there ever was in golf,
breaking Par on 18 holes within the first year of picking up golf!
This was his shinning moment in golf, and the long putt on the 16th
hole from over 40 ft was emblematic of the entire tournament – it
was his destiny to win.

Tom was a gracious man in defeat,
smiling and saying Larry deserved to win caused he played the best
golf. Simply put, but considering Tom played the front 9 of the
last day with a -5 under, he had to think the tournament was his.

Indeed,
Tom's final day 69 (-2) was brilliant, but Larry's 67 (-4) was simply
better. In fact, his 65-67 finish was simply amazing, considering
only three players finished under par for the tournament: Larry (-4),
Tom (-3), and Gil Morgan (-1). Gil played some last moment heroics to
shoot a hard fought 68, but was never really in the mix on the last
day. Really, only Seve, Tom, and little known Larry Nelson were in
the picture throughout the day.

2016 U.S. Open Golf Winner Predictions

As for this year at Oakmont, we have a
whole new pack of players vying for the title. Phil Mickelson is the
sentimental favorite, as this is the major he's never won, although
he's been painfully close a few times. No one in the golf world would
complain seeing Phil win this year, but sometimes wanting something
so badly makes it even tougher. Just like Seve and Sam Snead never
winning the U.S. Open, although Sam, like Phil, was so very close
many times.

Personally, my pick for the this years
2016 U.S. Open is Matt Kuchar. Matt has never won a Major, and is a mature 37 years old. He's been playing as good as anyone this
year, and I think he has the right attitude and game to win on
Oakmont.

Also look out for Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia, as they, after Phil, are likely the most hungry and capable out of the chasing
pack. As for a dark horse prediction, I would pick Shane Lowry (chosen after 1st round because I found out Ken Duke wasn't in field), who's has
played inspiring golf this year and is more confident than ever.

I'll be paying attention to this years
tournament at Oakmont, but because I don't watch television and it's
not being played on PGA Tour Live, I might not get to see most of it.
Sometimes I can watch some online live with certain channels,
although this year it's on FOX. (Watched it on U.S.Open App and website for free).

That's another thing that made 80s' U.S. Opens so great, was the ABC broadcast crew of Jim Marr, Jim
McKay, Peter Alliss, Bob Rosburg, Judy Rankin, and Ed Sneed. There's
never been a better crew of announcers, although I do enjoy Nick
Faldo, Jim Nantz, and Johnny Miller. Either way, enjoy this years U.S. Open in
golf, because the way this world is going, there won't be very many
more in the future.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Really, comparing ourselves to
professional golfers will mostly just frustrate us, when trying to get
better. Truth is, the average golfer has trouble breaking 100 if
keeping their score correctly. To be honest, I sometimes still have
trouble breaking 100 on certain days, but generally I'm just trying
to break 90. While saving par is great, I'm realizing the biggest
problem with my game is saving double and even triple bogey.

(I realize saving par means one-putting, but this is more a lesson in adjusting our mentality on danger zone holes.)

A good solid round to me is one where
I get nothing worse than a bogey. I'll admit though, this is a rare
occurrence. Generally, my rounds will see at least a few more than
bogey holes. Hopefully this category isn't full of worse than d.
bogeys. This is what I want to talk about here.

On my BGD Shows, I talk about my
rounds playing in the River Ridge Men's league. I've played there
four times (18 holes) this year 2016, and these are the stats of my
worse than bogey holes:

In the first parentheses is my overall
score for the 18 holes, the others are self-explanatory. For me,
learning to save double and even triple is an important step in
playing better golf. As a 15 handicapper, I should be playing somewhat
better than a couple of these scores. Nevertheless, these are the
best efforts I could manage this year in the competition of men's
league.

The Danger Zone

I tend to get myself into real trouble
on the course on average about 5-6 holes a round. Mostly this is
caused by my tee shots, whether it's a par three, four, or five. Par
three because generally there's some water or trouble that I can hit
into and have a penalty stroke, and there's not much forgiveness when
getting into trouble on Par 3's.

Driving the ball behind a tree,
slicing it out of bounds, or finding some water – is many times
when I enter the danger zone on a hole. When the strokes I've hit
begin to confuse my brain when I'm adding them up, I'm in real danger
of losing concentration and then losing another shot or two in the
process – which is how a triple and quad bogey are created.

For instance, say I hit the ball OB off the tee with my driver on a par 5, 500 yards, then hit the ball into
a tree about 200 yards out with my 3rd shot (the next shot
on the tee after penalty stroke). So, now I'm in the danger zone, hitting
four from a position where I need to chip out. This is a critical
time to adjust my thinking to try and save double or triple.

The hole is a par 5, so I have 300 yards
to go, and I have to chip out my 4th shot into the fairway
only 10 yards advancing. Now, I'm hitting my 5th shot
(par) from 290 yards away. This is when my brain begins to melt
trying to figure out what shot I'm hitting and how I'm playing so
badly and slowly... But, this is when I should be adjusting my thinking to
a new realistic goal for the hole.

Realistically, I can hit the ball a
good 190 yards with my 3 iron, and then have a 100 yards in
with my 6th shot. That will leave me two putts to save my
triple bogey, and if I play it real well I could get a d. bogey with
a one putt. This is the adjusted mentality I want to have, to
basically save triple bogey on a trouble hole. If I then walk off on
that Par 5 with a triple bogey, I'm feeling decent because I was able
to salvage the hole after two bad shots.

Let's take a Par 4, 410 yards for
example this time. Say I hit a sliced drive around 230 yards, then I
have a very dangerous shot over some trees and a large pond 30 yards
in front of the green. I would have to hit the ball 180 yards over
some decent sized trees and over the water to hit the green in
regulation. I decide to lay up and hit a 110 yard shot in front of
the pond.

I then chunk the 70 yard 3rd
shot into the pond. Now, I'm hitting four and in the danger zone.
Before I was trying to play for bogey maybe a one putt par, but
because of the duff I have to adjust my mentality to now save d.
bogey. So, the plan is to hit my fourth shot on the green and two
putt for a d. bogey. This is saving d. bogey, or even saving bogey if
one putt.

The Results of Adjusting our Mentality

The reason I think this lesson will
help, is because if we can manage these 5-6 trouble holes with the
right perspective, then we can shave a few strokes off our rounds
each time. Although, a round may seem to be one tragedy after
another, if we look at it realistically, we'll see there's really only a handful of holes that got real ugly.

We have to remember, these trouble
holes will comprise 50-85% of our over par score. If were trying to
improve our score, these trouble holes are where we need to focus.
Not by unrealistically saying they won't be there, but by being ready
for them when they come. If they don't come, then great, but when
they do come, we'll be ready with the right perspective.

Summary

We know when we're in the danger zone,
it's not a mystery when these trouble holes are upon us. These are
the holes with the most impact on our score, and if we can salvage
them with a double or triple bogey, then we can avoid the quads and
more scores – which devastate a round.

Many times, when I'm in the danger
zone, my confidence and concentration are weakened and I then become
susceptible to a three putt or some poor shot after the damage, which
then gets me a triple or quad bogey. If we're to get better, we have
to learn to forget quickly the bad shots.

Bad shots come from bad swings, and
the more consistent we get with our full swings, the less bad shots
we'll hit. Out of the 40 full swings we may take in one round, 35 may
be solid strikes, while 5 are either tops, chunks, toes, or heels.
Hopefully these 5 bad swings don't cause us a penalty, but they
generally do cost us at least one shot. When it goes into a penalty,
they cost us generally two.

So, in conclusion, when we go out and play next time, be prepared for those trouble holes and apply an
adjusted mentality to salvage a double or triple bogey. This should
save us from getting anything worse than a triple, and turn many
quads into triples, triples into doubles, and even doubles into
bogeys.